The Languages of Native North America

Stems take on grammatical status as verbs or nouns only with the addition of
suffixes. There is no incorporation or other compounding. Reduplication of various
kinds is common, primarily with verbs. Initial reduplication indicates intensity of
action, repetition, duration, and customary action: ti-w- *to coil', n^titi-we-wat 1 am
coiling it*. Final reduplication indicates distribution, mutuality, and, with intransitives,
an action performed now and then: kwdtis *dream^ kwa-tisiseni' *(he) is constantly
dreaming'. Some semantically verbal stems encode the number of absolutive
participants as part of their meaning: qdqai '(one) sleeps', cimsimt '(several) sleep';
cxau- *kill (one)', aiw- 'kill (many)'; others are verbs meaning 'do', 'travel', 'lie', 'fly,
jump', 'die', 'speak', 'sit, live', and 'put in'. Some primarily nominal stems also encode
number: d-la 'child', hi-me 'children', as well as 'woman', 'man', 'old man', 'human
being', 'hunchback', and adjectives 'small', 'short', 'tall', and 'big'.

Several verbal suffixes affect valency. Transitivizers -t and -c are common,
sometimes implying causation: xpi- '(it) burned down', nxpH 'I burned (it)'; Akwi-
^blanket', ^kwH '(she) covered (them)'; cuwehA 'grease', ncu-hA-c 'I greased (it)'.
There is another causative suffix -iyat: ie-c '(he) went out', h-i-vat '(he) took (him)
out'. An applicative -a-ya adds a beneficiary, goal, or source participant: la '(he)
went', lac-a:ya '(he) went after it'; tiBq '(he) ran away', w^-o^ \\\q) ran away from
li- A suffix -aai appears with reduplicated stems to form intransitive verbs with
"nplied indefinite objects: kwdtis 'dream', kwUkwdt-aai 'he was dreaming'. There is
a reciprocal -meu: il sqacB-meu 'they seize one another '. Reflexives are formed with
suffixes: nAhdc 'I dressed (him)', Ahdc-qsm 'she dressed (herself)'! A suffix -em
mdicates an indefinite agent: iatcdya '(he) goes after (it)', lacu-t-em ' somebody went
^«er (it)\ Middles can be formed with a suffix -vhe". yu-qat '(they two) split it',

398 7 Catalogue: language families and isolates

yu-q-^ *it split'. There are present, past, and causative passive suffixes: swA- *burn*,
S9ai'A'i£_ *fire is being set (to houses)'; aiwit '(he) killed (them all)', il aiae^w-ayu
*they were killed'; nla *l go', nid-Qt 1 was carried away (caused to go)'.

Several suffixes are aspectual. There is an inceptive -i-we: qaAu'w4,:w£_ *she begins
tQ eat'. Frequentatives indicate repetition, frequency, or duration, and often appear
with reduplicated stems: lau tuu-c *she put them down', Aeheu ne-la" hithi-tuw-tymt
*side by side she put them down'. Inchoatives add the meaning *become': tu^miA *old
man', ntumiA-ng, *l change into an old man'; hem-is *big', hem-ist-u. *it is getting
bigger'. Some suffixes distribute reciprocal or iterative actions (*to and fro', *up and
down'): nchwic *I speared him', ii cahvkw-eni' *they continually spear one another';
/fe-c *he went out', nie-cic-eni' *I keep on going out and coming in'.

Present participles can be formed with the suffix -c: hak- *to crawl', qawil-ai-we
xhdk'i'C Xhe) commences to look around crawl-ing'. There is also a past participle
-a-yau: ntq)at *I braid it'. <|?- fl-vflM ^ • *braid-ed ropes'.

Pronominal clitics distinguish first, second, and third person, inclusive and exclusive
first person dual, and singular and plural number. Subjects of intransitive verbs are
indicated by proclitics: n=f^dlac 1 dance', n=xdyat 1 am whittling'; e2j=odat *yQu
walk', ^=tdqa *(you) wake up!' Third person singular subjects are unmarked: la
*(he) went', n9q *(he) ran away'. (Plurals are indicated with free forms: i± at- *they
went to bed'.) Subjects of transitive verbs with third person objects are indicated with
the same proclitic: n=Uxac 1 looked at (him)', n=sqdca 1 seized (them)';
e^=wutxai'ta *yQu should take (them) home', wutxai-yat *(he) brought (them) home'.
Plurality of third person objects can be emphasized with the suffix -i't9x: laa- i-tdx
*(she) dragged them '. Objects of transitive verbs with third person subjects are also
specified with the same proclitics: n=tuhic-U' *he hit me', ^=tuhic-U' *he hit thee '.
The presence of the third person subjects (ergatives) is marked by the suffix -w for
singulars and -il for plurals. Combinations of first and second persons are indicated
with a second person proclitic and the suffix -a-mi 111 or -a-is 111: e^=la-d'mi =
2=go-l/2 = 1 take you along'; e^=sqaC'd'is = 2=seized-2/l *yo^ seized me'.

Nouns may consist of simple stems like e *face' or they may bear a nominalizing
suffix: stu-q *(he) stood', stu-wdqw-is Vail'; nqaina *I am cold', qaine-s *the cold';
t^dlac *(he) dances', t^al- i-ydwa *danc-er'. There is no grammatical gender.

Subjects of transitive verbs may bear an ergative ('discriminative') case marker x:
x=sximl n=ldlu'wi-t-U' (ERG=bear l=see-TR-3.ERG) * The bear saw me' (sximl
n=kilu'wi't (bear l=see-TR) *I saw the bear'). The marker follows articles: kd-s
tuhic h9=x di'lu'l (almost hit.TR the=ERG young.man) *The young man almost
hit it.' The ergative marker is generally used when the ergative status of the noun is
not obvious, as when a clause contains two overt nominals, or when the ergative is
inanimate, an animal, or not represented by a noun: x=nd-nt lau AuxAuwax *many

Coosan family 399

(persons) were clubbing her*. The same marker appears in combination with an
instrumental enclitic: iwint x-mU'aq=9c (shot.at ERG=arrow=iNST) *he shot at
him with an arrow'. With a locative enclitic, it yields an ablative: x-lcwil'eA=e'd
n-dji' (EEe=sweathouse=Loc 1-come) *I came from the sweathouse*.

The locative =i-c/=e'C alone means *in, at, on, under': yixew9X *house',
yixew9x=i:£ *(^®'s sitting) in the house'. Direction is shown by -ec *at, in, through,
on, into': yixew9x=ec '(he goes) mtfl the house'. An allative =ewic means 'toward':
yixew9x=swi£ i}-la *house=all I-go' = 1 am going toward the house'. The markers
also follow particles, verbs and clauses: cu- [h me qai stuq]=ec hel-aq (now [that
person below stand] =bir came) *Now he came to [that person that stood below]'.

Possessive clitics are formed from the articles plus personal pronouns: he^n kwdtis
*the=lsG dream' = *niy dream'; le=is ekwAec Vour Tdual ) father'. Nominal
possessors are marked with a particle u: h9 hecii u d-la (the Hetcit Pjoss child)
*Hetcit's child'.

A large set of particles add tense, aspect, and modal meanings such as *be about
to', *will', intend to', *used to', 'frequently', 'should, would', 'if. Many are evidential:
'it seems', 'I guess', 'I doubt', 'they say', 'certainly', 'evidently': yuxwe sku hwmeke
yukwe 'Two women must have gone ashore' (speaker saw tracks on the beach). There
is an interrogative v: cixuxiav. (two they go fl) 'Did they two go by here?'.

Word order in Coos is pragmatically rather than syntactically based (Mithun 1987).
The most newsworthy information appears early in the clause, followed by more
predictable and peripheral information. Subordinate clauses may either precede or
follow main clauses, linked by conjunctions: iaqcu-wat i dji- 'he waited, as he came'.

A few of these structures can be seen in the lines below from Frachtenberg 1913a:
5. The particle yw/i adds conditional meaning. Transitivers -t and -c appear in 'tiy
it' and 'dropped it'. Instrumental and directional enclitics are in 'with that soot', and
*into the ocean'. Particles is 'we two' and wc 'they two' indicate dual subjects.

^^^yi' ily yu'A is knt,

good indeed if would we two try it

*"It would be good if we two should try it.

Tdqen hi-wec ywA is fatiL

soot that with if would we two try it

We ought to try it with that soot here." . . .

^^* "^ tu'wi'dc baUi-misec.

one they two dropped it ocean into

They dropped one piece into the ocean.'

Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The Languages of Native North
America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.